So it begins…A San Diego Food Blog

CELEBRATE THE CRAFT 2015 – TORREY PINES, CA

October 28, 2015

The Lodge at Torrey Pines recently hosted its 13th annual Celebrate the Craft. This food festival brings together Southern California’s chefs, local produce, wineries, and breweries to showcase all their skills and talents into one event. Produce was provided by more than fifteen regional farms and ranches, including Coleman Farms of Carpinteria, Point Loma Farms, Crows Pass Farms of Temecula, El Campito Farm of Descanso, McGrath Family Farms of Camarillo, Suzie’s Farm of San Diego and Catalina Offshore Products of Solana Beach. I had heard such great things about this food festival and was also excited to finally visit The Lodge at Torrey Pines (how have I never visited this lodge in all the years I’ve been in San Diego).

THE LODGE AT TORREY PINES

There was a quite a line to get into the event but it moved quickly once the check in process started. The event took place on the Lodge’s outdoor patio overlooking the golf course. You couldn’t help but get giddy smelling the burning wood smoke from the multiple bbq stations that day. I was lucky the friend who attended with me once coined “The Camera Eats First” when you’re a food blogger because that was 100% the case that day.

WINES

There were wineries at the event but I was there mostly for the food so let’s start this journey shall we…

CHRISTIAN GRAVES — JSix

Jsix was our first stop and I couldn’t help but fall in love with this porchetta resting beautifully on their table.

Chef Christian (on the right) took the time to talk to me about the porchetta . He noticed me taking pics and proceeded to fascinate me with the following:

He then cut the front end of the porchetta in half for me to take a picture…

Then he put the porchetta on the grill to warm up for the sandwiches –

And the end result …

Tortured Pork, Pretzel Rolls Grainy Mustard, Cabbage and Ketchup

Absolute perfection. This was one our favorite items of the day. The ‘tortured pork’ was divine : lusciously fatty and tender. You could taste the crunch pork skin and the fresh cabbage just brought this sandwich to another level. I believe Chef told me they used the pretzel rolls from Bread & Cie.

Raw beef. Raw beef sashimi. Life couldn’t get better at this moment. The beautiful Snake River Farm beef tenderloin was atop a freshly grilled zucchini. This was a wonderful sample from Stake Chophouse.

I believe there were shrimp cakes on the skewer as well. Friend’s shrimp and shrimp cake were grilled a bit rare but mine was grilled just right. The shrimp tasted nice with the sweet pomegranate soy glaze.

The chef also gave us a halibut skewer to try as well. The halibut had a nice firm tasted to it and was grilled perfectly.

KATIE GREBOW & BRIAN SINNOTT

Lamb Cheek and Freekeh Vadouvan, Cauliflower, Pomegranate and Herbs

I don’t eat lamb but friend enjoyed these soft cheeks. We both marveled how much we seemed to enjoy anything-pomegranate that day.

Here’s a ‘trick’ I discovered (not sure if it’s a real trick since it was my first time here) for trying dishes at Celebrating the Craft: take more than one loop around all the stations and you might just find new dishes that you didn’t see previously. Case in point, the same Chefs, at this station, now replaced the lamb cheeks with Pork shoulder. Now THIS I can eat. The pork shoulder tasted tender.

Oh Javier. How I was so shy seeing you for a brief moment. #ChefCrush (why can’t I come up with cool poundsigns like that when I’m trying to Instagram on the spot).

There was a hustle and bustle for Chef Plascencia’s station.

They were using wood to grill their hand made corn tortillas and to heat up the black beans. The slow roasted pork tasted nicely seasoned and was so juicy. I don’t eat corn tortillas but the version here was delicious.

One word. UNI. I’ve had many experiences with uni but never fell in love with it. Without a doubt, THIS fresh uni on top of the seared diced bigeye tuna was THE BEST UNI I’ve ever had. I barely noticed the bigeye tuna because my tastebuds were completely infatuated with the oceany custard goodness that was this uni.

CATALINA OFFSHORE PRODUCTS

Marinated Opah, Tomatillo-Nopal Emulsion, Curry Oil

I only saw this sample on my third and final pass that day visiting all the chefs. So again, make sure to take the extra time visiting all the chefs and dishes when you attend Celebrating the Craft.

I’ve heard such amazing reviews about Q’ero and so want to go their restaurant(s) soon. This was a nice and fresh ceviche but perhaps a bit seafood-intense for me at that moment. I’m not sure if it was the heat or feeling a bit dehydrated. I wish I could re taste this dish as I’m just noticing the aji-limo uni leche de tigre in the description just now.

URBAN SOLACE

I noticed these guy from Urban Solace busting their tushes at this particular station. The heat emanating from the hot coals was unreal. The guys let me take a few pictures of their grilling area :

KING SALMONHOT OIL FOR THE SQUASH FRITTERS

And the final product:

MATT GORDON — Urban Solace

King Salmon, Pomegranate Brine, Celery Root/Squash Fritter

I think I met Chef Gordon when he handed me this plate. The picture above doesn’t do this sample justice. I cannot explain how much I loved the squash fritter. It was wonderfully crispy (did they use lard or something to deep fry these fritters?) but take a closer look at the sheer beauty of this king salmon:

The king salmon was grilled a perfect rare. I’m not sure if I could taste the pomegranate brine but the pomegranate sauce paired nicely with the salmon.

I wasn’t sure if I had ever heard of The Golden Door other than it’s a fancy getaway spa type resort. Chef Frey and Chef Ryan were so easy to talk to and it was fun seeing them prepare this dish. Friend enjoyed the rabbit and said the porcini stuffing was done nicely. I particularly enjoyed the ‘jus royal’.

WOOD ROASTED RABBIT

Chefs took out a freshly oak roasted rabbit for me. Can’t you just smell the oak-y deliciousness right about now.

The chowder had a thinner soup base to it but still tasted very much of fresh seafood. I was a bit salmoned out by this point but thought the milky broth tasted nice. The glass underneath the chowder was freshly pressed apple cider. I’m not sure if people noticed a younger guy pressing fresh apples right next to this particular station …

APPLE CIDER

The fresh pressed cider had such an intense sweet apple taste to it. I asked if they added any sugar and they proudly smiled ‘no’.

And with that we were pretty much done. The food was plentiful and I loved how real utensils (plates, forks, glasses) were used for the samples. That’s something I don’t believe I’ve seen at previous food events so kudos to Celebrate the Craft for yet another paying attention to detail factor.

COMPLIMENTARY BOTTLED WATER

The weather was humid so these complimentary Solar Rain bottles of ice cold water were much appreciated by each patron.

COMPLIMENTARY LEMONADE AND WATER

Flavored waters and lemonades (?) were also provided.

Overall, I enjoyed myself at the 13th annual Celebrate the Craft festival. The memorable moments for me at this year’s Celebrate the Craft were 1) meeting the chefs ; 2) trying copious amounts of unlimitless food; and 3) taking in all the beautiful scenery The Lodge at Torrey Pines offered.

My only suggestion would be to offer more seating areas. A patron had mentioned to me that people fight over the tables as people reserve the tables with their sunglasses, drinks, etc so that no one else can use the table(s) the entire time. I did notice that and it was hard to fully enjoy the dishes under the sun while standing for a few hours.

We grabbed a few bottles on our way out as it was getting pretty humid that afternoon.

I also wanted to show you the entry bracelet they gave you at Celebrate the Craft. The wristband was cloth and had a noose you tightened once they put it on you. I hadn’t seen this in past events so thought this was pretty nifty.

And of course. My swag. Chef Kelli (from A.R. Valentien) gave out adorable jars of her mincemeat (same used in her mincemeat pastry sample) and her pickled cherry tomatoes. The Spa at The Lodge were on site that day offering complimentary 15 min chair massages to patrons as well. The Spa gave out $25 future vouchers to any spa service as well as spa samples (yes!). So yes, it was a successful Sunday (minus the Chargers losing…why).

Oh my gosh JS I think the uni on top of the big eye tuna would have converted you. I tried it twice and both times the uni tasted so good. Maybe we need to just get some from Catalina and try that one day.

I felt like a total dummy not knowing how to eat the crawfish (I thought you twist head off, pinch tail, tail meat comes out). It would have been easier doing it in shade and sitting down 🙁

Porchetta can be A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Best version yet was in San Francisco. Oh man I’d fly up there just for the porchetta. We must find a porchetta place for you to finally try this porkalicious dish (I’ll have to see if JSix offers one on their menu).

The tortured pork was really good, but by the time I got to it, I barely had enough room to eat any more. I did manage to try all of the dishes (including one of the sneaky Catalina ones handed out to the Societe beer line), and had a couple of them twice, so I can’t complain.
It was a fun event, even if they don’t have enough table space and invisible people “reserve” chairs and then don’t sit at them for longer than it would have taken me to sit there and eat and get up for another plate … /:grumble:
We’ll be back.

Yeah, Societe was the one tucked between Catalina and the oysters/bigeye&uni.
Their “Harlot” beer went really well with just about everything, as did Alesmith’s Nut Brown.
I actually went back for seconds on the salmon/fritter, the lamb/mincemeat pie and the squash cheesecake. I would have gone back for the tortured pork and Plascencia’s tacos, but I’d hit the wall.

AleSmith had that 10% ABV beer -gosh, was that the Nut Brown? Maybe it was the Devil something. Friend had the Harlot but didn’t try it with the samples at Catalina.

Did you get the mincemeat pie swag?! I REALLY loved the squash fritter at Urban. It was so unreal. I appreciated how almost every sample we tried that day tasted so fresh and so ‘made to order’. That’s impressive you managed seconds on more than two items. That’s experience right there 🙂

We ate the pickled tomatoes with dinner a couple nights ago, and still have the mincemeat stashed away for the holidays.

Horny Devil is the 10% beer – it’s very, very good and drinking it you’d never think it was that high ABV. I’ve brought it to more than one dinner party and poured it for people who “don’t like beer” and they really liked it, and the folks who like Belgian beer liked it, too.

AleSmith Nut Brown is more like 5% and has almost a cacao-nib ability to combine well with either sweet or savory dishes. It works with everything from pancakes to pizza, and is just as good right after a bike ride as it is at a fancy meal. It’s my “desert island” beer, like if there could be only one.

Oh man I love it when I get beer that I *think* I’m going to hate and then end up loving it. I’m curious to visit AleSmith’s new tasting room. I hope they give Ballast some much needed competition in the area.

I’m still learning the nuances of beer. I recently had one at Ballast Point that BLEW ME AWAY. It was called Scurvy Snacks made with blood orange I think. It was only an R&D beer and sold out quickly. I heard it’ll never be brought back again 🙁

You are wise starving yourself for this event. Luckily it started early so you probably only would have had to skip breakfast. I can see you devouring all the meat samples. Maybe there’s a future dessert festival that’s coming to San Diego 🙂 I bet you can mac down on sorbet there.